Arctic Methane (CH4) AIRS/Giovanni and IASI Concentration Maps

Arctic Methane release is one source of green house gas impacts on global warming and climate change.

While the atmospheric lifespan of CH4 is estimated to be 12.4 years, the warming impact of methane (CH4) is far more intense than CO2. The following impacts are estimated as a comparison between the two gases of 1 kg of CH4 vs 1kg of CO2 in climate forcing. The following GWP impacts are several sources:

The methane mapped is that tracked in the middle troposphere at 26,045.1 feet or 7,938.6 meters.

The IASI Metop A map imagery is supplied by the gracious kindness of Dr. Leonid Yurganov. It maps the 2008-2012 IASI CH4 methane PPBv data from 970-600 mb or from 1,201.6 feet or 366.3 meters to 13,794.9 feet or 4,204.7 meters. For the science. IR processing and platform description, see this paper: